Rotorcraft Report: Atlanta Police Buying NVG

By Staff Writer | July 1, 2009

Police

PUBLIC SERVICE | POLICE

The City of Atlanta Police Department is equipping its MD-500 police helicopter with night vision technology. The equipment and training will be supplied by Night Flight Concepts. NFC is providing the city with FAA-approved NIVISYS NVAG-6 night vision goggles (NVGs), plus equipping the MD-500 with REBTECH night vision lighting. The modification will cover both interior and exterior lighting, so that illumination inside the cockpit won’t cause bright spots while the pilot is wearing night vision goggles.

Under the contract, the Atlanta Police Department’s pilots will receive NFC classroom training using a NightReadiness Virtual Training Board. This is an adjustable in-class display that can be used with and without NVG, so that students can get a real sense of how the technology works. "The student can look through the NVG and see what they would see [in the helicopter] under different conditions," said NFC President Adam Aldous. The system can even "move the moon around" in the sky, to simulate how its position and phase affects the use of NVGs. As Aldous observed, doing this kind of training in a helicopter would cost a fortune in fuel and flight hours.